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This home on Victoria Beach in Laguna Beach — as it appeared on Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2018,– was remodeled without state permits. That triggered a Coastal Commission hearing on whether permits were needed. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Environmentalists are celebrating a precedent-setting vote Thursday by the California Coastal Commission to tear down a seawall protecting an oceanfront home in Laguna Beach.

After the previous owner received retroactive approval for the previously unpermitted seawall, Jeffrey and Tracy Katz bought the home on Victoria Beach. They performed an extensive remodel, which was completed in January and increased the value of the home from $14 million to $25 million.

But a condition of the commission’s seawall permit was that it be removed if there was new development on the site.

The commission is tasked by the Coastal Act with beach preservation and public access. It had previously approved the seawall to protect the home because the house was constructed before the 1977 Coastal Act, which requires more substantial setbacks from beaches and bluffs.

The Katzes’ lawyer, Steven Kaufmann, argued that the work qualified as “repair and maintenance” and so did not required a commission permit. The 11 commission members were not only unanimous in agreeing that the extent of the work required a permit, but doubled to $1 million the fine recommended by staff.

The Katzes are expected to pursue a pending lawsuit that could reverse the decision. If the suit is unsuccessful, removal of the seawall is likely to require demolition of at least a portion of the 4,900-square-foot home because of unprotected exposure to winter waves. Kaufmann declined comment after the vote.

While environmentalists cheered the the decision against the Katzes, they also pointed to broader implications of the vote as sea levels rise and shrink the size of many California beaches.

“This was a huge, hard decision,” said Jennifer Savage, California policy manager for the Surfrider Foundation. “We know that our future means a loss of beaches. Hopefully, this means fewer seawalls and an extension of the life of our beaches.”

The need for beaches

Seawalls interfere with the natural flow of sand along the coast, of erosion that helps replenish beaches and of the landward creep of beaches that accompanies sea-level rise.

Susan Jordan, director of the California Coastal Protection Network, said the commission decision could prove a sign of more aggressive enforcement by the commission and a deterrent to other property owners who build illegal seawalls and perform remodels without commission permits.

“We need homeowners to site their homes out of harm’s way,” Jordan said.

Jeffrey and Tracy Katz’s Laguna Beach house and seawall at 11 Lagunitas Drive before the controversial renovation that began in 2016. Photo courtesy of the California Coastal Commission.

All exterior and interior walls were removed for the Katzes beachfront remodel. The owners contend that the work was “repair and maintenance” and did not need state Coastal Commission approval. Commission staff disputes that. Photo courtesy of the California Coastal Commission.

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With the seawall reinforced, the Katzes proceeded to remodel the house without a Coastal Commission permit. Photo courtesy of the California Coastal Commission.

The Katzes’ remodeled house, shown here with a newly reinforced seawall in July, could be torn down depending on how the Coastal Commission votes. Photo courtesy of the California Coastal Commission.

In 2013, this is what the disputed Katz beachfront property looked like. Photo courtesy of the California Coastal Commission.

This aerial photo show the location of the Katzes’ Laguna Beach house at 11 Lagunitas Drive. Photo courtesy of the California Coastal Commission.

Kaufmann, the Katzes’ attorney, argued to the commission that the remodel didn’t trigger the need for a permit because it didn’t increase the square footage or footprint of the house, located at 11 Lagunita Drive. He also contended that it wasn’t a major remodel because less than half the structure was changed.

But the commission showed no hesitation in siding with its staff, which described extensive remodeling and displayed photos of new walls, flooring, ceilings, roof beams, decks, plumbing and wiring throughout the house.

“Every part of the house appears to have been replaced or, as in the case of the wood framing and decks, has been effectively replaced by the addition of new, reinforcing beams, framing, and other materials, including: installing new roof framing (including steel beams); adding new exterior wall framing or framing “sistered” to existing framing; adding new (larger) joists sistered to existing joists and/or adding new joists; installing glue lams and steel beams and adding new window/door framing,” according to the staff report.

‘Shouldn’t be there’

Before the Katzes bought the home, the previous owners had been turned down by the commission when they’d sought to rebuild the house. Several commissioners expressed concern that the Katzes had deliberately tried to skirt the Coastal Act.

“In my mind, this is a case where the property owners decided not to be bound by the law governing development on our coast,” Commissioner Donne Brownsey said.

Lisa Haage, the commission’s chief enforcement officer, said when the commission retroactively approved the seawall in 2015, it did so with the presumption that the house was approaching the end of its lifespan, and would be replaced by a new dwelling sited farther away from the ocean.

“This house shouldn’t be there,” Haage said. “It’s in the wrong place.”

Martin Wisckol covers coastal environment and development. Previously, he spent two decades as politics reporter and columnist for the Orange County Register. He’s also held reporting positions in Miami, Jacksonville, Detroit and his hometown of San Diego, with an emphasis on land use and urban planning. He is a lifelong surfer and has spent most of his life on the coast. His work has been honored by the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Headliner Awards, the California Newspaper Publishers Association, the Florida Press Club and the American Planning Association Florida Chapter.